2000Km-1243 mile club

Weekly check-in: 30 Aug-5 Sept (Read 329 times)

Yes, Monday started here already. Goal for the week, get all my planned workouts in! I've been really bad about that since I'm staycationing. Back to work on Thu. Soooo don't want to go. Don't like my job anymore with the new boss. But at least I'll have a routine again.

Been searching for an affordable hotel in Vancouver yesterday for my May marathon. So far found 1 close to Stanley Park with a bus stop close by to get me to other parts of town. Still looking for something a little more downtown or near a sky train.

Today was 50min of UB strength training and 45 min of LB. Oops, didn't do abs... better hop to it or it won't get done.

Dutchie I go running in the early morning, before my brain figures out what I'm up to.

Just finished a slow 6 miles in the Halifax soup. Busy workweek ahead and I'm hoping to cram it all in by Thursday night and take an extra day off for the Labor Day holiday - hubby has planned a trip to an inn on the coast.

The week looks like this - Tues morn: hour with the trainer, Tues night: maybe get some time on hotel treadmill, Wed: rest (work day with clients) Thurs: 6 miles with some at HM pace, Fri: hour with the trainer, Sat: 8/10 miles - then min vacation off until Tues.

I hope I can stick to it! Happy Monday A

Nature is unable to make a really first-class job of anything if she is hustled...

OK need advice from the experienced (marathon) travellers. First off, this is the very first time I'll be traveling alone. Scary....

I found this nice B&B in Vancouver (Kitsilano) with a single room for can$80 per night with a 10% discount cause I'm gonna stay for 10 days. I'll be staying on after the marathon to explore Vancouver. And the B&B is nicely located for that.

Is it advisable to book now? Or should I wait? Hotels and B&Bs are pretty expensive in Vancouver it seems. Especially if you want something decent and near all the popular tourist places.

Around here you better book a hotel way in advance for an event, or you're either stuck with the expensive hotels, or the cheap and not so nice places in areas you do not want to stay.

Anyone know how it works in Canada? The thing is, this B&B will charge my credit card as soon as I book the room. If I cancel, which I don't intend to do but who knows what's thrown my way, I'm out of can$80 admin fee.

BUT, I've also found this hotel, not as nice in my opinion (judging from the websites), but not bad and in a nice area (West End), with a single room for can$105 per night, no discount. But they also won't charge my credit card till check out. And I can cancel without additional costs.

ETA: I do have the money to pay for the B&B in a separate account, so that's not the problem. And currency seems favourable right now (1 can$= approx 1.34 euros).

ETA again: forgot to say that I haven't gotten a flight yet. That is, I'm still looking for a cheaper flight than what I've seen sofar.

Any thoughts?

Dutchie I go running in the early morning, before my brain figures out what I'm up to.

Dutchie: my thoughts: 10 nights at a $25 cost difference is $250 more which more than offsets the $80 risk of the cancellation fee. If you have the money available and if you really like the place, I say go for it. You'll have the piece of mind of having one thing taken care of. If the place is just OK, then hold off a little while longer.

Thanks guys, I will book the B&B. The marathon organisation expects 14.000 runners, walkers, wheelies, etc. on May 1. Not everyone will be from out of town of course. So better book the room and be sure I have a place to stay in a nice area. I've been doing some research on Kitsilano and it's a trendy hippy and popular neighbourhood. The B&B is close to the beach and a park too. Will make for some nice recovery running.

Something is going on with my TM. It is one of those "foldable" ones. So I folded it to clean underneath and there's oil on the mat. Quite a bit of it too. I haven't noticed anything odd while running on the thing. No weird noises either. Then again, I turn the music up so loud I can't hear myself run on it, so if it were making funny noises, I probably wouldn't hear it.

I emailed the techies from the company I bought it from. Am waiting for an anser, but in the mean time I don't dare run on it. And it's raining bad outside. Nothing new, it's been like that for two weeks now. And it's cold: 11C. This morning it was already 8C. Feels like were headed into Winter already.

Dutchie I go running in the early morning, before my brain figures out what I'm up to.

I'm doing my best to stay ahead of you Dutchie! I'm thrilled to have broken 100 miles this month after not coming close for the last two. I wonder what could be the matter with your TM? I have a foldable one too and there's grease on things "under there" but it's never ended up on the floor. What mine does just about every time it gets folded up, is that some wheel jumps out of its track and then you get this crashing sound when you run on it - so up it goes again for re-seating. Jeez! Your marathon plans sound so exciting! I agree that staying in a B&B is much nicer than a hotel. When I ran in the Victoria (Canada) HM a few years ago, I stayed at a B&B and they adjusted the checkout time so I could come back and shower and have breakfast after the event. Very nice "customer service." As far as flights...I haven't looked lately, so I really can't say; but sometimes KLM has cheap transatlantic flights. I flew that to France a couple years ago. Do they go to Canada? Air Canada has cheap flights from Vancouver to Glasgow - done that to visit my sis. Don't know if they go to Amsterdam though. Sorry - I'm not much help.
I'm posting in Internet Explorer, (usually use Mozilla Firefox) because tonight my display was all messed up though in Firefox, but OK in IE, except there's no icons for Bold, Underline, etc... or emoticons. I don't know WTF but I'm not happy about it. Anyone else having a display problem. Like everything, I mean everything, is shifted to the right side of the screen? (DH had use of the computer before me, so I may never really know.)

HappyFeat: I have the same display problem. It's RA related, cause no other site has that problem.

Techies emailed me that it's probably access silicone based oil and there's nothing to worry about. Weird though that after 5 yrs the machine suddenly starts to get rid of access oil like that. Which I emailed them back.

Still worried about the TM, but am going to run on it today. Will keep the music down to listen for weird noises.

Dutchie I go running in the early morning, before my brain figures out what I'm up to.

Total 17 miles on the trails today, I was dying by the end. I ran a 11.5 mile loop on some really nice trails and I got an early start so it wasn't too hot, then got back to the car, replenished my water pack and left on the second loop and was immediately having a bad time. By then it WAS hot, and my legs tightened up, I couldn't go faster than a fast walk without being completely out of breath, and my HR above 90%. Sheesh, that was hard, I think I was staying well-hydrated and had some ShotBloks and a salt tab, so I'm not sure why I had such a meltdown after mile 11, like I did after mile 8 last week. Maybe I'm just not in good enough shape, and the combo of heat, humidity and trails got to me.

Still, it was a good, hard workout and I'm happy with that.

MTA: Turns out that I was out there running in the heat for 3:45 so I guess that would be a factor.

"Able to function despite imminent catastrophe"

"To obtain the air that angels breathe you must come to Tahoe"--Mark Twain

"The most common question from potential entrants is 'I do not know if I can do this' to which I usually answer, 'that's the whole point'.--Paul Charteris, Tarawera Ultramarathon RD.

HappyFeat: I have the same display problem. It's RA related, cause no other site has that problem.

Techies emailed me that it's probably access silicone based oil and there's nothing to worry about. Weird though that after 5 yrs the machine suddenly starts to get rid of access oil like that. Which I emailed them back.

Still worried about the TM, but am going to run on it today. Will keep the music down to listen for weird noises.

What brand of TM do you have? Mine is not that old. I guess I should keep a watch for that problem - although it sounds like it shouldn't interfere with using it.

Had to do a workout switcheroo due to "hurricane" Earl. I went to the gym and ran 6 on the TM 20 min slightly slower than HM pace and 20 min a little faster...long run (10 miles) on Monday.
Weather report: too windy for a drive down the coast, not to windy to flip flop to local coffe shop. I'd better hit the showers before the power goes out.

Nature is unable to make a really first-class job of anything if she is hustled...

Very nice long run. Ran faster than I have in a long time. Same loop as last week (24.53K). Only last week it took me 3:05:18 to finish, whereas today I was nearly 20 min faster.

Got stuk in the public toilet after 15.36 kilometers. Darn! Took me a while to get that door open again. HRM stopped and once I was out I had to restart again. Once I was going again, it felt like I was running slower than before, when in fact, I was much faster at first. Maybe cause I felt I was slower I made an effort to run faster? Anyways, when I realised I was running too fast I slowed down again. Maybe a little too much.

Made an effort to run the last kilometer faster, increasing speed every 3rd lamp post as I ran up the bridge. Loved it today.

ETA: HappyFeat, every time I get close, you run off again

Dutchie I go running in the early morning, before my brain figures out what I'm up to.

Had a decent result in the rock n roll VB half marathon today. I was really getting down on myself for my level of fitness but I managed to impress myself with my effort. I pulled off a respectable 1:38:33 and finished very strong.

Oh Dutchie - that's one of my fears - getting locked in a public toilet! Sometimes I'm more afraid of locking the door than of someone walking in on me Sounds like a satisfying run overall.

I think my bursitis is getting better, but something else is going on too. Need to get it figured out. This week doing my yoga routine, I feel a sharp twinge at the SI joint and like it wasn't moving correctly. I did a bunch of stretches and exercises before yesterday's run (13 miles) to try and get it sorted out, but couldn't tell if I accomplished anything. Then about a mile into my run, I had sharp pain in my right hip on weightbearing and it didn't feel right. I tried to stretch it out and that enabled me to do the run, but it hurt off and on the whole way.I think the problem lies in the ligaments that connect the SI to the hip and I'm seriously thinking of trying to find a physical therapist to help me resolve it. I have a suspicion that it may be linked to my bursitis. If that right leg had been fully functional yesterday, I would have had a strong run and no worries about the Sept. 26 HM....